NHL in Bay Area pre-Sharks wasn’t the same

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It’s easy to take for granted annual Stanley Cup participation when a team qualifies for 10 straight seasons, and 17 times overall for an expansion team that debuted in 1991-92. The franchise has a loyal fan base, plays in a boisterous downtown arena that sells out every game, and puts an entertaining product with big-name stars on the ice year-in and year-out.

Just know it wasn’t always this way.

For a brief period between 1967-76, Oakland was the home of the region’s first NHL team, an expansion franchise that had three names in its first four of the only nine seasons it called the Bay Area home. The California Seals were one of six new cities granted teams when the NHL doubled from its Original Six to 12 teams.

Midway through its first season the team became the Oakland Seals, primarily since it played all its home games at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. By 1970 and under the new ownership of Charlie Finley, they were renamed the California Golden Seals. Finley’s innovations including brightly-colored green and gold uniforms accentuated with white skates didn’t do enough to cover all the losing on the ice.

Finley wanted to dump the franchise but couldn’t find any takers. Finally the NHL assumed control, and after a new arena planned for San Francisco fell through, the Seals were finally on the move to Cleveland.

This seven-minute video of a 30-year-old documentary does an excellent job of chronicling the team’s brief history.

The Seals reached the Stanley Cup playoffs twice, their second and third seasons in the league. Who did they face and take to a Game 7 before losing in their first crack at the playoffs? The same Los Angeles Kings franchise the Sharks are facing in this season’s playoffs.